New Year and New Beginnings

Hello my lovely readers,

So I was fortunate enough to visit the fam back in Cake Eater, Minnesota for Ten Whole Days! I arrived an angry Christmas hating New Yorker and left with my faith restored, my spirit calm and my outlook more positive than it's been in weeks!

Some of the highlights of my trip home were:

* Attending "Sweet William" at the Guthrie theatre with my mom. It was a lovely play all about the life of the Bard with smatterings of his monologues throughout the narrative of his life's story.

* Going to Christmas Eve service with my family at St. Fabulous Church. (It really is quite fabulous!) They do a cantor of the history of the world before Christ and all the events leading up to it (Adam & Eve, Sarah & Abraham, Ruth, Noah, etc..) and then the grandest part of the whole thing "on the 25th day of December, two thousand years after the time of David, Jesus Christ was born!" ... Then the hand bells start to ring, THEN the organ starts playing "O Come All Ye Faithful" in a way that says "Watch out bitches, it's Christmas!".

It's really quite moving, and standing there with my family I found myself overwhelmed with gratitude for my life and family... Got a little teary... Just a great service overall

* Going to the annual Christmas bash at Salsa Gal's house & getting a little drunk with my pals from Cake Eater High School!

* Having Dinner with the Senora family (see previous blog)

* Going shopping (Twice!) with the Coffee Man. We went to Mall of America and both days were tons of fun! I love a good shopping spree & helping others spend their hard earned money!

*Fun Drinks with Q-er and her husband. We went to Santorini's. It's going to be torn down soon... (no more Kareoke -- sniff, cry!)

* Dinner with Director R.Go and Law Girl (both pals from Cake Eater High) at the 112 Eatery! Friends - this was one of the BEST meals I've ever had! We had the 112 French Fries, the Bree Cheese Burger, the Lamb Chops with yogurt sauce... and a couple glasses of wine (ahem...)

* Christmas Eve at my cousin's house - great time with the family! And when we played the Naughty Santa gift game (where you can steal or keep your gift) I asked to stop after the first round of steal or keep...

This was quite a funny event, as I gave a little speech about the past Christmas's and how I've bit my tongue while other family members do a second round to get the item that they want. This usually results in me loosing my coveted gift to an older family member.

Well this year there was NO MORE of that!

And so I got what I wanted: Eat, Pray, Love and the first season of Entourage.

* Going to my first MN Wild Hockey game!! Coffee Man has season tickets & he took me to the game on Saturday night! Cold Beer, close seats & sweaty men in big shoulder pads -- I was a very happy girl! AND we WON!!! In overtime! (SUCK IT Oilers!!)

Now one would think that opera lovin', knitting fan, quiet night Miss Musical would hate this sport. Well, friends, loving hockey is part of being raised in the great state of Minnesota & I'm almost sure I knew what Icing was before I was four years old! Plus it didn't hurt that Cake Eater High won state my sophomore year! (Suck It Hill Murray!)

Am I a sore looser?? No. But am I a LOUD winner! YES!!

Oh- where was I?? Oh, yes, more highlights!

*Watching the movie Fargo for the FIRST TIME!! (Yah, You Betcha!)

*Getting my hair done at H-Salon with my fav. stylist!

*Hangin' out with my Mom, Dad & Brother & reading the paper on Sunday morning.

All this said, my first day back in NY yesterday was great - but I miss my family like crazy already.

I'm gearing up for a fun week of getting the New Years Cards in order for my lovely UES Boss (aahh... the joys of being a personal assistant). Only 325 more cards to address... Wish me luck, dear reader... Wish me luck... Good thing that the family comes back from St. Barts on Sunday - I'm getting lonely without them!

Well, guess it goes to show that you can take the Girl out of Minnesota, but you can't take the Minnesota out of the Girl!

As always, your tune humming blogger,

Miss Musical